The Prentice Hall Essence of Engineering Series provides a concise, practical and uniform introduction to the core components of an undergraduate engineering degree. Acknowledging the recent changes within Higher Education, this approach uses a variety of pedagogical tools - case studies, worked examples and self-test questions, to underpin the students learning.

The Essence of Microprocessors will get the reader up to speed in designing small embedded microprocessor-based systems.

Concentrating on embedded systems which are by far the major application for microprocessors, this book will provide you with the confidence to design, construct and program a working embedded system.

Key concepts are covered in an incremental fashion, beginning with simple digital theory and computer architecture and ending up with a simple case study. The text will be split into 3 parts. Part I covers sufficient digital and computer theory to act as a foundation to the microprocessing engineering topics. Part II looks at the software aspects of the 6800/8 microprocessor; its instruction set, how to program it at assembly and high level. Part III covers the hardware aspects of interfacing, interrupt handling, testing and debugging.